Suspected heatstroke cases: 15 on poll duty in Mirzapur, Sonbhadra die; 11 deaths in Kanpur under scanner

15 poll duty personnel died in Mirzapur and Sonbhadra due to suspected heat-related ailments. High temperatures recorded in both districts.

Fifteen personnel on poll duty in Mirzapur and Sonbhadra died of suspected heat-related ailments on Friday, district officials confirmed.

Polling personnel in Sonbhadra admitted to the district hospital after they fell sick on Friday. (Sourced)

Thirteen of them, including seven home guards, three sanitation workers and a clerical staffer, died in Mirzapur alone, Mirzapur divisional commissioner Muthukumarasamy B said.

Two other deaths of polling personnel took place in Sonbhadra.

The officials added several home guards in Mirzapur and polling personnel in Sonbhadra were undergoing treatment for similar problems at government hospitals there.

Day temperatures in both districts rose to a maximum of 47 degrees Celsius on Friday, IMD confirmed. Mirzapur and Robertsganj (Sonbhadra) are among the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh where elections are due in the final phase on Saturday.

Mirzapur SP Abhinandan said the home guards collapsed when they were leaving for polling stations. Their bodies had been sent for post-mortem, he added.

Meanwhile, 11 people died of suspected heatstroke in Kanpur over the past few days, where temperatures had been fluctuating between 46°C and 48°C since the past week.

While postmortem entries in the district mortuary showed 27 bodies were brought there from different parts of the city for autopsy in the last 60 hours, only eleven could be identified so far. Their families claimed that their deaths was due to severe heat.

However, district magistrate Rakesh Singh stated that he was unaware of such a high number of deaths and emphasised that post-mortem examinations would clarify the exact causes. Additional commissioner of police (Law and Order) Harish Chander confirmed that several bodies had been sent for post-mortem as families blamed heatwave for the deaths.

“We have sent 11 bodies for autopsy today, the cause of death will be clear after the postmortem. Seven post mortem were conducted today and we are waiting for the reports,” he said.

According to Dr. S.N. Sunil Pandey, a weather scientist at CS Azad University for Agriculture, this May was the hottest on record. Since 1988, the highest temperature recorded in Kanpur was 48.2°C, and this week marked the third time the mercury soared past 48°C.